Hot Topics:

Vacation stop in The Netherlands turns into long sought discovery for Carlsbad man

By Valerie CranstonSpecial to the Current-Argus

Posted:
12/10/2012 10:25:55 AM MST

Click photo to enlarge

Dwight Gray, right, stands behind his father Dwight M. Gray s grave at the Margraten American Military Cemetery and Memorial in Margraten, The Netherlands. His father was killed during World War II by Germans. He did not know where his father was buried until visiting the cemetery on a bus tour through the heart of Europe.

A trip of a lifetime for a local couple turned up a find of a lifetime for one of them.

Dwight and Sondra Gray took a 22-day Heart of Europe Grand Tour by bus during the month of September. The tour took them through The Netherlands (Holland), Belgium, Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, France and to London, England, with many side excursion tours.
On the tour itinerary was a visit to a cemetery. Right away, Dwight got his hopes up that it would be the cemetery where his father was buried.

"I was 2 years old when my father was killed in World War II," said Dwight. "We knew there was a cemetery on the itinerary, but we didn't know which one. I got my hopes up that it would be the one.

"My father was killed by Germans who didn't know the war was over," said Dwight.

The cemetery stop on the tour was at the Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial, located in the small village of Margraten, were thousands and thousands of American soldiers are buried. This stop was on the third day of the trip.

When the tour bus arrived at the cemetery, they got off the bus and went to the office. The tour guide asked if there was a registry of names. The cemetery staff said yes and escorted them to a little house where the registry was kept.

As they looked down the list, Dwight's father's name, Dwight M. Gray, appeared. An overwhelming feeling came over Dwight. None of his family, including his mother, knew what cemetery his father was buried in.

Advertisement

Now, he was about to visit the grave of the man who gave him life.

"He started crying," Sondra said.

"I also got my father's Purple Heart from my mother. I'm the only one in the family that got to see his grave," said Dwight, choking back his tears.

The cemetery was well groomed, with row after row of white crosses showcased by the bright green grass, flower areas and trees.

"A lot of the people on the bus separated and let me walk down the middle," he said.

"They (passengers) were all crying and hugging him," she said.

When they found his father's grave in the cemetery, he was given brown sand to rub on it to fill in the indentations of the name and other information so it would show up in photographs. Everyone seized the opportunity to photograph such an emotional event.

"Each one of the crosses was made of white marble," said Dwight.

Upon leaving, he was given a website to get in touch with those who adopted the grave. He can also make a monetary donation to the cemetery through the site toward its upkeep.

The day they were at the cemetery was the day the Dutch people were celebrating the Liberation of the Netherlands. Dwight was invited to come back and celebrate with them next year.

"They (people of the Netherlands) are still indebted to us and they love the Americans," said Dwight.

While at the cemetery, Dwight found out about a book, "The Margraten Boys, How a European Village Kept America's Liberators Alive," by Peter Schrijvers.

"We spent more time than the tour allowed," said Sondra, noting no one complained and every one of the passengers shared Dwight's emotion.

Dwight also has a book, "The Saga 390 AAA AW BN (S.P.), United States Army," that has information about his father and the other soldiers.

The remainder of the trip was enjoyable, although nothing could top what he found during the cemetery stop in The Netherlands.

Sondra said the bus was very luxurious and comfortable, however the circulated air did spread a respiratory illness through the passengers. One passenger came down with the illness and it spread throughout the bus. The weather was beautiful except for a couple of days of rain. The toughest part was the 10- and 12-hour airplane flights.

The tour had two bus drivers and the bus stopped every two hours so passengers could use the restroom and get snacks. There was a restroom on the bus, but it was for emergencies only because there were few dump stations along the tour. Their tour guide spoke six different languages. One of the bus drivers was Italian and didn't speak a word of English.

"Coffee was $2 and $4 and you didn't get refills," she said, noting they once paid $9 for a cup of coffee in Paris. "And beer and wine are cheaper than water."
"Everything is so expensive over there," said Dwight, adding he lost his ATM card the first night.

They visited Anne Frank's house and saw where she hid behind the bookcase. Some of the things they saw were the painting of the "Mona Lisa," the Vatican, the Roman Coliseum, the site of the Olympics in Germany, the Leaning Tower of Pisa and they rode a gondola in Vienna, minus the serenading.

"There were statues all over and we saw all the major landmarks," she said. "And we had to pay 50 euros or about 75 cents to use the bathroom."

"We saw the Eiffel Tower in the day time and lit up at night," said Dwight.

"We were busy on the excursions until late every night," Sondra said, noting they took them all.

Sondra had read about the tour in a magazine. It sounded intriguing to her and she had to do a selling job to convince him that he would enjoy it too.

Dwight knows now that he was destined to make this particular trip that brought him the comfort and peace of mind of finding his father's grave.

ODESSA, Texas (AP) — A West Texas man has been charged with impersonating an officer by using sirens and flashing lights to skip to the head of the drive-thru line at a fast-food restaurant. Full Story

Sufjan Stevens, "Carrie & Lowell" (Asthmatic Kitty) Plucked strings and pulsing keyboards dominate the distinctive arrangements on Sufjan Stevens' latest album, and in the absence of a rhythm section, they serve to keep time. Full Story